| | Event type

100 metres Freestyle, Women

Date	6 – 8 August 1932
Status	Olympic
Location	Olympic Park Swimming Stadium, Los Angeles, California
Participants	20 from 10 countries

Helene Madison had emerged as the dominant force in women’s swimming over the previous two years, breaking record after record and was voted the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for 1931. Madison’s progressed to the final but her semi-final swim, where she faded after a strong start and finished in a time that would have seen fail to qualify from the other semi-final, brought a moment of doubt. The 14 year old Willy den Ouden from the Netherlands had broken the Olympic record in reaching the final and looked set to mount a strong challenge to Madison. The American started the final strongly and built up a clear lead but with 25 metres to go she clipped the lane dividers and lost speed. Regaining her momentum, she pushed on to the end and finished ahead of her Dutch rival.

Pos	Swimmer	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	Helene Madison	USA	1:08.9 (1 h3)	1:09.9 (1 h2)	1:06.8 (1)	Gold
2	Willy den Ouden	NED	1:09.2 (2 h4)	1:07.6 (1 h1)	1:07.8 (2)	Silver
3	Eleanor Garatti-Saville	USA	1:08.5 (1 h4)	1:08.8 (2 h1)	1:08.2 (3)	Bronze
4	Josephine McKim	USA	1:09.3 (2 h2)	1:08.8 (3 h1)	1:09.3 (4)
5	Frances Bult	AUS	1:11.4 (3 h2)	1:10.2 (2 h2)	1:09.9 (5)
6	Jenny Maakal	RSA	1:11.0 (2 h3)	1:10.6 (3 h2)	1:10.8 (6)
4 h1 r2/3	Joyce Cooper	GBR	1:09.0 (1 h2)	1:09.2 (4 h1)	–
4 h2 r2/3	Corrie Laddé	NED	1:12.1 (1 h1)	1:11.8 (4 h2)	–
5 h1 r2/3	Yvonne Godard	FRA	1:12.2 (2 h1)	1:14.1 (5 h1)	–
3 h1 r1/3	Valerie Davies	GBR	1:12.7 (3 h1)	–	–
3 h3 r1/3	Lilli Andersen	DEN	1:11.6 (3 h3)	–	–
3 h4 r1/3	Yukie Arata	JPN	1:16.1 (3 h4)	–	–
4 h1 r1/3	Hatsuho Matsuzawa	JPN	1:17.1 (4 h1)	–	–
4 h2 r1/3	Rie Vierdag	NED	1:13.3 (4 h2)	–	–
4 h3 r1/3	Edna Hughes	GBR	1:15.1 (4 h3)	–	–
4 h4 r1/3	Irene Pirie	CAN	1:16.3 (4 h4)	–	–
5 h1 r1/3	Marjorie Linton	CAN	1:19.9 (5 h1)	–	–
5 h2 r1/3	Irene Mullen	CAN	1:15.2 (5 h2)	–	–
5 h3 r1/3	Kazue Kojima	JPN	1:16.2 (5 h3)	–	–
5 h4 r1/3	Maria Lenk	BRA	1:25.8 (5 h4)	–	–

Round One (6 August 1932 — 15:00)

Top two in each heat and the fastest third-place advanced to the semi-finals.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	1	Corrie Laddé	NED	– (–) –	1:12.1	Q
2	3	Yvonne Godard	FRA	– (–) –	1:12.2	Q
3	2	Valerie Davies	GBR	– (–) –	1:12.7
4	4	Hatsuho Matsuzawa	JPN	– (–) –	1:17.1
5	5	Marjorie Linton	CAN	– (–) –	1:19.9

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	3	Joyce Cooper	GBR	– (–) –	1:09.0	QOR
2	4	Josephine McKim	USA	– (–) –	1:09.3	Q
3	2	Frances Bult	AUS	– (–) –	1:11.4	q
4	1	Rie Vierdag	NED	– (–) –	1:13.3
5	5	Irene Mullen	CAN	– (–) –	1:15.2

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	4	Helene Madison	USA	– (–) –	1:08.9	QOR
2	2	Jenny Maakal	RSA	– (–) –	1:11.0	Q
3	1	Lilli Andersen	DEN	– (–) –	1:11.6
4	3	Edna Hughes	GBR	– (–) –	1:15.1
5	5	Kazue Kojima	JPN	– (–) –	1:16.2

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	3	Eleanor Garatti-Saville	USA	– (–) –	1:08.5	QOR
2	5	Willy den Ouden	NED	– (–) –	1:09.2	Q
3	4	Yukie Arata	JPN	– (–) –	1:16.1
4	2	Irene Pirie	CAN	– (–) –	1:16.3
5	1	Maria Lenk	BRA	– (–) –	1:25.8

Semi-Finals (7 August 1932 — 15:00)

Top three in each heat advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	–	Willy den Ouden	NED	– (–) –	1:07.6	QOR
2	–	Eleanor Garatti-Saville	USA	– (–) –	1:08.8	Q
3	–	Josephine McKim	USA	– (–) –	1:08.8	Q
4	–	Joyce Cooper	GBR	– (–) –	1:09.2
5	–	Yvonne Godard	FRA	– (–) –	1:14.1

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	–	Helene Madison	USA	– (–) –	1:09.9	Q
2	–	Frances Bult	AUS	– (–) –	1:10.2	Q
3	–	Jenny Maakal	RSA	– (–) –	1:10.6	Q
4	–	Corrie Laddé	NED	– (–) –	1:11.8

Final (8 August 1932 — 15:00)

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	–	Helene Madison	USA	– (–) –	1:06.8	OR
2	–	Willy den Ouden	NED	– (–) –	1:07.8
3	–	Eleanor Garatti-Saville	USA	– (–) –	1:08.2
4	–	Josephine McKim	USA	– (–) –	1:09.3
5	–	Frances Bult	AUS	– (–) –	1:09.9
6	–	Jenny Maakal	RSA	– (–) –	1:10.8